Chavez: Preparing to turn the page at Evans Field

Friday

Canandaigua Academy football will play final varsity game at historic field while celebrating 20th anniversary of 1999 state championship

It’s kind of like that strong safety barreling his way toward you. You see him coming and you do what you can to brace for the hit.

But no matter how much you prepare, you still feel it.

This is where we are with the news that came out Friday morning that on Sept. 21, Canandaigua Academy will play its final varsity football game at Evans Field.

Plenty of thoughts come with the news, of course, especially for the old-timers who knew nothing but Evans Field until Braves Field came into the conversation two seasons ago.

And while the issue of no football at Evans Field stirred quite a debate years ago, the sentiment has clearly changed over the last two years. The excitement of football under Friday night lights had a big impact on that shift, and conversations with plenty of alumni indicate the vast majority are nodding with approval for the move.

So make your plans now and if my gut feeling is any indication, you’ll want to arrive at Evans Field early on Sept. 21. And by early, I mean very early.

The opponent that day is Brighton and it is Week 3 of the season. But it’s also a day the CA football family will celebrate a 20th reunion of the 1999 team that won the Class A state championship.

So yes, the date will draw a crowd. Here’s hoping as many members as possible of that 1999 team can be on hand for a well-deserved tip of our cap.

And while celebrating a state champion certainly is a magnet itself, the chance to celebrate an era that began in 1949 makes the draw even stronger. And the fact that Brighton is the opponent for this is indeed appropriate.

Talk to any members of the CA teams from the 1950s and they’ll tell you all about a rivalry with the Barons so intense that a group of Brighton fans painted the Evans Field turf the night before a 1956 game. It’s no stretch to say the matchups between these teams back then was one of the top rivalries of the area.

Of course, there are some obvious questions about the future of Evans Field.

Baseball will continue at the diamond with games and practices, and even the football field will get use with lower level football and boys lacrosse games.

So, Evans Field as we know it will remain as an athletic facility.

But what about one of the most iconic features at Evans Field, the "Beat Our Foe" wall on the back of the barn that sits on a property on the Fort Hill Ave. side of the field?

There’s been talk that it may make a move to Braves Field, but there is nothing official on that.

A couple of years ago, I wrote that the sooner CA moved all its games to Braves Field, the better. It wasn’t an easy conclusion to come to because I readily admit I was in the camp that wanted football to always be at Evans.

I adore local history and have no shame in being a traditionalist for many things. But along the way, it hit me that at one point, even Evans Field was new.

As much as we’d like to hang on to what we hold dear, times change and so must we.

So as we begin the countdown to Sept. 21, let’s get get lost in a sea of memories, hope for good autumn weather and plan to be there for the festivities.

If varsity football is coming to an end for Evans Field, the least we can do is give it a proper sendoff.

Chavez is sports editor at The Daily Messenger. Contact me at rchavez@messengerpostmedia.com or follow me @MPN_bchavez

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